Part 7: Episode 07: Locked-Room Mystery
This update covers:Naomi Kimishima 2 - Locked-Room Mystery(part 2 of 3)
LG: Alright. Let's piece it all together, step by step.
Naomi: Let's do that.
LG: The deceased, Dennis Taylor, was found dead in his apartment. His body was discovered because of a fire.
Naomi: But by the time firefighters arrived on scene, the fire had already gone out. His corpse was found on the bed.
LG: Right. The FBI and police initially ruled this case a suicide. The reason for that was the knife and the slashed wrist, and the fact that the door was locked from the inside.
Naomi: That isn't a surprising conclusion.
LG: The knife blade does match the wound on the wrist, and the blood on the knife matches the deceased. His fingerprints were also found on the handle of the knife.
Naomi: But there was something odd about the wound on the wrist. First, there were no pain reaction wounds. Another point is that the knife was in his right hand, which was fractured.
LG: But that's not the only reason for doubt. If he used the knife, then he would have bled to death, but hemorrhaging in the eyes points to death by asphyxiation.
Naomi: Between that and the strange bruise on his side, there's more than enough evidence to doubt this was a suicide.
LG: But, according to the electrician's statement, the victim seemed like he might be in a state to commit suicide.
Naomi: There are too many uncertainties to decide at this point, which is why I'm going to investigate the scene for myself.
Which brings us to the current moment.
We can now investigate Dennis' apartment. At the moment, we can only examine things, but we'll eventually get some CSI toys to play with. The first point of interest is that bulletin board on the left.
Naomi: The deceased's… friend? I was so caught up in the case that I didn't check his background. Hello, Little Guy, can you hear me?
LG: Yes, I hear you Dr. Kimishima, did you need something?
Naomi: Yes. Can you do me a favor and look into the deceased's friends? I'm going to send you a picture now. Ask them about the deceased himself, first. It'd be great to find out more about the day of the incident.
LG: All right, I'll have them questioned and send you the recordings.
Secondly, the bed has a clue.
Naomi: This is where the deceased's corpse was. If this is his blood, then he was lying on his back when he died. There's only one stain, so he didn't move around much. If this truly is a suicide, then he bled to death here, but the amount of hemorrhaging here seems too small for a man to completely bleed out.
Side note: one of the choices for how the corpse was positioned is "doing a handstand." I laughed.
Naomi: One of the fan blades is broken. That's odd, considering a repairman came that day. I need to review the electrician's testimony to confirm what he actually fixed.
Naomi: The burns are most severe in this spot. I wonder what was burning here? I should send the ashes in for analysis.
That's all we can find here for now (Naomi tells you so). We have more leads to pursue back at the office.
Upon returning, Little Guy gives you another recording, as well. We'll start with that.
I love the dollar-sign necklace.
James: You wanna talk about Dennis? You're better off askin' his girlfriend. Her name's, uh, Stella. She's down at the club on Roulette Street. She can probably tell you more than I can. That guy, huh? No, he's a friend of mine, you know? I don't hate him. We'd been out drinking together the night before he died. Uh, he did seem pretty flush recently, if you know what I mean. He called me up out of the blue and said he'd pick up the tab that night. It wasn't really important. That's just how he normally brags. He was all proud of this red Portland Jacks T-shirt he was wearing, too. The red ones are limited edition or something. They're pretty rare. His job, huh? He worked at some crappy little bar in some back alley. You probably can't really call it a bar, either. I don't know how he made his cash. That's why I said you should be talkin' to his girlfriend. Hey… do you guys seriously think he offed himself? That's just stupid. He was one sharp SOB, always lookin' out for himself. He always thought that if you had no money, you should go out and steal some. You really think a guy like that would just kill himself?
Naomi: He would have been wearing that shirt on the day he died. …Something about that isn't right. I'll have to take another look at the corpse's personal effects. In any case, after hearing this testimony, it's hard to believe the deceased would have commited suicide. …That man said the deceased had a girlfriend. I wonder if HQ knows who she is.
LG: Yes? Did you call, Dr. Kimishima?
Naomi: I need you to look into someone for me. A woman named Stella Abbot.
Minor oversight: Naomi shouldn't know what her last name is. It was never given in the testimony.
LG: The deceased's girlfriend? Well, technically his ex-
Naomi: Can you find her?
LG: We already have. HQ's just finished questioning her. Should I send you the recording?
Naomi: Please. If you don't mind. I feel like I'm getting closer to understanding who Dennis Taylor really is.
The recording doesn't come in right away, so we'll have to take a look at some other things first. Luckily, we have a lot of new evidence. We need to take another look at the body, but the first thing I'm going to have us do is double-check with the electrician's testimony to see what he fixed. This first requires combining his card with the broken fan to unlock another topic.
Naomi: It's too hot to need the heater. Summer is already starting, and the deceased's neighbor mentioned how hot it's been. Why would the deceased want his heater repaired on that day? There's something strange about this.
Now, you'll remember that Dennis was wearing a red T-shirt in the friend's testimony. You may also recall his personal effects, the first thing we checked.
Naomi is literally incapable of keeping two things in her head at once, so she won't be sure about the contradiction until we combine the cards.
Now, we can actually start sorting through this evidence. First, the shirt thing.
Naomi: Something about this is bothering me. The shirt on the corpse is a different color than the one in the testimony. Did he change after getting home, or was there some other reason?
Next, there is something odd about the heater repair combined with the electrician's activity.
Naomi: The reason most people use a ceiling fan is air circulation. If the owner was having his air system fixed, the fan should have been part of it. Why would the electrician fix the heater, and not the fan?
At this point, I remembered that I needed to have the ashes from the fire analyzed.
LG: I can't promise anything, but I'll send it to the lab.
We also need to have him look at the bloostains found on the bed.
LG: I did some quick calculations, and a stain of that size would take about 800 ml of blood.
Naomi: The average adult male would take about 1500 ml to bleed to death. That means he might not have bled to death. The amount required varies from person to person, so this isn't quite proof. It is unusual, though.
That's all we can do for now, but the voice recording from the girlfriend arrives after you back out to the office.
Naomi: I need to know about the deceased's source of income.
Stella: I've got work to do, so let's get this over with. Dennis Taylor? Wow… that name brings back bad memories. We broke up years ago. At first I thought he was an interesting guy. Pretty cool and all. But he never had a job, and he just kind of wandered through life. Oh, but he always had money. I'm sure he didn't come by it honestly. …Are you this slow? Don't you get it? Drugs. He was a drug dealer. He worked for this big fish called "Theodore." I guess Dennis got totally used by him, the dumbass. And that was it. I broke up with him. It was way too dangerous for me. Who knows? I'd assume he's still out there dealing. I mean, I can't stop him. Huh? He died? When?
Okay, let me just first say that this is the absolute last part of the "war on drugs" story arc. With that out of the way, we now know where the money was coming from. The solution for this topic is the part about Dennis being a drug dealer.
Naomi: Good heavens, the deceased's been holding on to quite a secret. I'll have to change the way I approach this case.
LG: This is looking more and more like a case worth investigating. If Dennis Taylor really was a drug dealer, there could be a variety of reasons to kill him.
Naomi: Still, I can't let my prejudices cloud the truth. I need to remain objective. It seems we'll need to change our views regarding this case.
LG: Right. I'll prepare the CSI's ALS.
Naomi: The Advanced Light Source that can adjust the wavelength being emitted?
LG: That's right. An object's visibility depends on the light being reflected from that object. The ALS lets you select a particular wavelength to focus only on what you want to see.
Naomi: Or hide what you don't want to see?
LG: …Huh? Oh, no…
Naomi: I'll try it. Thanks, Little Guy.
We now have our first new toy for investigations, the ALS. There's more to be seen at the scene with this.
This is what the ALS looks like in-use. If it finds anything, it emit's a high-pitched pinging noise, and the new detail will appear on the screen in bright blue. It'll stay even if you turn the ALS off, which you will want to do because it's pinging at you.
Naomi: There's white powder scattered on the floor. Looks like there are footprints in it. I can guess what this is, but I should send it in for analysis just in case. …Hmm, this powder trails behind the shelf.
Naomi: There's more of this powder in the hole. What an obvious place for a hiding spot. Mr. Taylor wasn't all that clever.
This is all the info we can dredge up for now. Now, though, we're starting to get closer to the truth.
LG: I'll have it investigated in any case. Could you please wait?
Later…
LG: About that white powder: there were traces of drugs found in it.
Traces?
LG: A number of different sets of footprints were found as well. They all belonged to the firefighters, police… and you, of course.
Naomi: That means they fell when the fire started. Otherwise, the deceased's footprints would be there as well.
Combining the hole with the floor-drugs results in some further logic.
Naomi: The hole in the must have been a place to hide drugs. Considering the footprints, they could only have been scattered just before the fire. If I take this even further, I'd say it would have been after Mr. Taylor stopped moving. They were on the floor because
Once you reach the conclusion of a line of inquiry, you'll eventually end up with a golden evidence card. These cards are "finished" and don't need to be combined, or analysed. They're considered evidence in the investigation. There will be a use for them down the line.
Naomi: Yes, they must have spilled out when someone removed the drugs from the hole in the wall. Dennis Taylor was killed, and someone walked out with the drugs. I'm starting to get a clearer picture, but there's no proof just yet.
Next time: The conclusion of this case. We'll discover the entire truth behind the killing. Before this update ends, though, there's one more thing…
MEDAL CHALLENGE
Naomi, like all the other playable doctors, has 8 medals hidden throughout her stages. Unlike the others, I don't think you can earn them before completing the entire game. Each one is hidden in one of the investigation scenes. Check the right place, and you'll find something like this:
This one is located in the bookcase in the middle of the room. Each challenge is a series of five trivia questions. The first one is about forensics, and is mostly easy. That said, I had forgotten some of the answers and lost some hearts getting through it. If you saw my life meter take a hit partway in, that's why. Just for fun, I'll post the questions now and let you guys make your guesses/google it. Answers will come with the conclusion of the case!
